Hennepin County Attorney’s Office Grapples with ‘Destabilizing’ Turnover ‘Crisis’

Lawyers

The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office is in crisis, hemorrhaging attorneys at a rate that would make even a fast-food chain flinch.

That’s according to AFSCME Local 2938, a labor union that represents Hennepin County attorneys and legal support staff. In contract negotiation documents from August, the union warned that even with immediate pay adjustments, it could take years—if not decades—for some divisions within the office to regain “their pre-2023 levels of proficiency, professionalism, and recognized statewide leadership among fellow county attorneys’ offices.”

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Progressive Knight Foundation Training Journalists on How to Write About Likely 2024 Election Lawsuits

Heather Gerkin, Bob Bauer, Ben Ginsberg

The progressive Knight Foundation (KF) is providing training to journalists ahead of the 2024 general election on election related legal issues. KF announced in July that the organization would fund election news coverage “primarily in swing states.” It will also provide journalists with “explainers and training …from The Associated Press.”

“One local news organization in each swing state will also receive a grant to serve as an ‘anchor,’ bolstering the distribution of election-related coverage with editorial partners in their state.” So far, most of KF’s grants in Arizona have gone to Arizona State University.

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Grassroots Groups Join GOP to Provide Election Integrity Training in Scottsdale, Tucson

Protect the Vote

Several grassroots groups, including the Voter Reference Foundation run by Arizona Republican Party Chair Gina Swoboda, put on election integrity training in Scottsdale and Tucson on Monday.  Organized by America First Policy Institute (AFPI), speakers from the Honest Elections Project, Heritage Action for America, Save Our States Action, and American Constitutional Rights Union Action taught attendees how to work at the polls, observe elections, and educated them on the Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) proposition on the ballot and efforts to require proof of citizenship to register to vote.

Jordan Kittleson, policy director of AFPI, moderated the event, asking the experts questions and commenting on them.  Organized by America First Policy Institute (AFPI), speakers from the Honest Elections Project, Heritage Action for America, Save Our States Action, and American Constitutional Rights Union Action taught attendees how to work at the polls, observe elections, and educated them on the Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) proposition on the ballot and efforts to require proof of citizenship to register to vote.

Jordan Kittleson, policy director of AFPI, moderated the event, asking the experts questions and commenting on them.

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Ohio Secretary of State’s Office Launches Initiative to Prepare Election Officials for the November Election

Frank LaRose

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose announced a new statewide initiative his office will facilitate to ensure election officials are “trained and prepared” for the November general election.

The Ready for November initiative will “offer a series of collaborative training opportunities between Ohio’s 88 county boards of elections and the Secretary of State’s elections, public integrity and communications staff,” according to LaRose’s office.

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Socialists Offer Six-Week Training for College Students to Unionize for Social Justice

This summer, Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA) is conducting a six-week summer session that trains college students to unionize for social justice in their workplaces.

Titled “Red Hot Summer,” the training will give “give young workers the tools to organize their workplace and discuss how the labor movement can play a role in winning fights against racism, sexism, homophobia, climate change, and imperialism,” according to the YSDA website.

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Minnesota Spending COVID Relief Funds on ‘Anti-Bias’ Training for Teachers

Minnesota is spending untold millions in COVID-relief funds on controversial education initiatives, like implementing ethnic studies in schools and recruiting teachers on the basis of race.

President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID relief package included $122 billion for the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Fund. Minnesota received a total of $8.5 billion in American Rescue Plan funds, $1.3 billion of which came from ESSER.

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Air Force Academy Forces Students to Watch Pro-BLM Video

The newest class of cadets at the United States Air Force Academy, as part of their education, are being forced to watch a video that is supportive of the far-left domestic terrorist organization Black Lives Matter, Fox News reports.

The video in question portrays a fictional situation where a mixed-race student named Jose, who has a Nigerian mother and a Mexican father, is pressured into attending a Black Lives Matter rally on his campus by two of his friends. A third friend tries to convince him to not go, instead suggesting that “all lives matter” is a better slogan, since “black lives matter” would suggest to Jose that his mother’s life matters more than his father’s.

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Gov. Whitmer Secures $10 Million Grant to Expand Employment Opportunities

A male doing electrical work with a ball cap and safety glasses on

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity (LEO) has been awarded a $10 million federal grant to support the state’s registered apprenticeship expansion efforts.

“As we put Michigan back to work, Registered Apprenticeship programs offer on-ramps to high-demand, high-skill careers, and in Michigan we have committed to expanding these educational opportunities to ensure more Michiganders can get good-paying jobs,” Whitmer said in a statement.

“Increasing access to education and training opportunities will help us achieve our 60 by 30 goal to have 60% of Michigan’s adult with post-secondary education or skills training by 2030, improve the quality of life and help Michiganders secure good-paying jobs, and ensure businesses have the workforce they need to succeed and grow our economy.” 

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Ohio Court: 700-Plus Training Hours to Arm a Teacher

An Ohio lawmaker believes it’s now more important to make it easier for teachers to have guns in the classroom following an Ohio Supreme Court ruling Wednesday that school districts must require police-level training for employees to be armed.

Rep. Thomas Hall, R-Madison Township, introduced legislation in April that requires school employees to complete only concealed carry weapon training to carry a gun on campus. 

In a 4-3 ruling, the court sided with a group of Madison Local Schools parents who sued the district in September 2018 to stop teachers from being armed without extensive training, including more than 700 hours of peace officer training. Madison Local Schools adopted a policy that required only 24 hours of training before staff could carry a concealed weapon.

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Metro Atlanta Leaders to Use Federal Money to Address Crime

Keisha Lance Bottoms

Leaders in the metro Atlanta area said they plan to use American Rescue Plan funding to address public safety issues.

Officials in Fulton and DeKalb counties and the city of Atlanta have announced plans to use a portion of the federal aid to increase public safety or address criminal justice backlogs.

According to several reports, Atlanta and adjacent cities have seen a spike in crime over the past year. State lawmakers have launched a study to look at ways to curb the issue. Gov. Brian Kemp directed $5 million last month from his emergency fund to address the crisis.

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Minnesota College Forces Faculty to Attend Racially Segregated Anti-Racism Trainings

Aerial photo of Carleton College

A private Minnesota college has mandated monthly anti-racism training sessions for all of its employees, with most sessions segregated by skin color.

“All faculty/staff will need to either attend the live session or watch the recorded session each month,” Carleton College’s website states.

Carleton College is a small but influential private liberal arts college in Northfield, Minnesota, with about 2,000 students and an endowment of close to $900 million. Tuition is $59,000 a yeaA private Minnesota college has mandated monthly anti-racism training sessions for all of its employees, with most sessions segregated by skin color.

“All faculty/staff will need to either attend the live session or watch the recorded session each month,” Carleton College’s website states.

Carleton College is a small but influential private liberal arts college in Northfield, Minnesota, with about 2,000 students and an endowment of close to $900 million. Tuition is $59,000 a year.

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Prosecutors: Son Of Prominent Brooklyn-based Imam Was Training Children To Commit School Shootings

terror training

by Chuck Ross   The son of a prominent Brooklyn-based imam was training children at a New Mexico compound to commit schools shootings, prosecutors said in court documents released Wednesday. Siraj Ibn Wahhaj, 39, was training 11 children at a compound north of Taos, New Mexico, according to The Associated Press. Authorities raided the compound Friday and arrested Wahhaj, two of his siblings and two other men during a search for Wahhaj’s son, who had been abducted from Georgia late in 2017. A 3-year-old boy was found buried near the compound, but has not been identified. Wahhaj’s son was not among the children rescued. Residents in Amalia, New Mexico, near the Colorado border, had complained for months about the squalid conditions of the makeshift compound before Friday’s raid, according to news reports. Authorities recovered multiple firearms as well as an AR-15. Taos County Sheriff Jerry Hogrefe said Tuesday that authorities initially did not have enough evidence to search the compound. Wahhaj and his son were not spotted on the property. A breakthrough came last week when authorities received a tip that a starving child might be living at the compound. Wahhaj’s father, also named Siraj, is a controversial cleric with close…

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JC Bowman Commentary: The Intent and Spirit of Collaborative Conferencing

Tennessee Star

Are we striving toward achievement of the original objective of the PECCA law?  It is clear, a course adjustment may be in order.  Eliminating needless lawsuits, staying focused on the purpose, including more teachers in the process, and having impartial training moving forward will better establish a peaceful, stable employer-employee relationship. Who could oppose those common-sense changes? 

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